TOURISM is set to soar in flood-hit Cumbria thanks to a new fly-on-the-wall TV series.

The Langdale Chase Hotel in Windermere is the star of ITV1’s new docu-soap The Lakes, a 12-part series throwing the popular holiday destination into the limelight.

And since the series – fronted by Funnyman Rory McGrath – started earlier this month, hundreds of holidaymakers have inundated hotel bosses with potential bookings.

The hotel’s managing director Thomas Noblett said: “Bookings have soared and I’ve sent out hundreds of our brochures too.

“Our website has had more than 100,000 hits and we’ve had more than 1,000 emails, so if those enquiries convert into bookings, too, it would be fantastic.”

Mr McGrath and the television crew spent the whole of last summer at the picturesque hotel, following the lives and exploits of staff and guests as well as many other Windermere locals.

And the first episode, which introduced the colourful characters, was watched by 4.8 million viewers – more than the number who watched Channel 4’s fly-on-the-wall series Celebrity Big Brother.

Tourism chiefs now hope just as many will tune in over the coming weeks to follow Thomas as he gears up for a bid to swim across the English Channel to raise funds for charity with help from his general manager Andrew Tighe, who originally comes from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

Thomas, 47, said the staff had tremendous fun filming last year.

He said: “Rory and the team were here for quite a few months and we soon got used to the cameras. We might have been a little wooden to start but we soon forgot the cameras were even there. Andrew and I were funnier than Rory. He couldn’t keep up with our banter.

“We are a very close team here and are very lucky to be such great friends, and that hopefully comes across in the show.”

He said the series now has a serious message to get across, in light of the floods which struck the region just months after the filming crew packed up their equipment.

“The Lake District really suffered with devastating floods and a heavy snow fall, and everyone seems to think the Lakes are closed, but this is certainly not the case,” Thomas said.

“The tourism trade has taken a bad hit, and I’m still getting phone calls from people saying ‘I’m getting married at the hotel in March, will it be OK to go ahead then?’.

“The reality is we were only affected for about three days.”

Meanwhile, Cumbria Tourism is bracing itself for a high demand of this year’s holiday guide to the county, as a direct result of the show.

“Our annual holiday brochure is always very popular but considering the amount of people that are tuning in, and the fantastic footage it is showing of the Lakes, it would not surprise me at all if we run out of brochures by the end of the series.”